1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wearable robotic system for rehabilitation training of the upper limbs, particularly a wearable robotic system for rehabilitation training of the upper limbs having an improved structure for helping rehabilitation training of the upper limbs of an old person with weak muscular strength, a handicapped person, or a rehabilitation patient without interfering with the motions of the body.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a human body has a structure in which parts near joints pivot about the joints and generally have to move for over 6 hours a day to maintain their functions.
However, a patient who has had an operation on a joint cannot move by himself/herself, such that muscles weaken and nutrition is insufficient, and as a result, the joint may become stiff and rigid.
Therefore, the patient is required to endure rehabilitation exercise with pain for a long time to prevent deformation of the joint and return to a normal life.
Further, in addition to patients, old people whose muscular strength are weakened by aging or handicapped people need an auxiliary device for rehabilitation training of the upper limbs.
The shoulder joint is connected by the humerus and the scapula, and extension/flexion, abduction/adduction, and internal/external rotation are performed by several muscles including the pectoralis major muscle, the latissimus dorsiflap, and the deltoid. The interval between the humerus and the scapula is formed in a shape that is the most similar to a ball-socket joint, and has been researched under the assumption that it is a ball-socket joint in design. Further, the elbow joint is composed of the radius, ulna, and humerus.
Most general medical instruments are not more than simple auxiliary devices having only a function that restrains the angle of each joint after an operation on the joint such that the patient does not perform any excessive motions. Further, various researches have been conducted for walking assistance devices that change the angle of joints using an actuator.
That is, the existing assistance devices have only a function of restraining the angle of joints, but, unlike those, CPM (Continuous Passive Motion) devices that are used for rehabilitation training of knee joints have been recently on the market domestically and internationally.
The CPM devices have functions that bend/stretch the knee, set an angle, set an operation time, and set the number or repeat time, etc., and also have functions that vibrate and progress motion.
The devices have a technical characteristic in that they are applied only to knee joints that are involved in the lower limbs that are the most frequently used.
On the other hand, as for a product for the upper limbs, MYOMO (developed by MIT) has been developed in the United States. However, it is limited in that it is difficult to be used for different people and allows only one degree of freedom for the elbow, because it selects an EMG as a motion intent signal.
Further, products by KINCOM and BIODEX, which are expensive and have been developed in foreign countries, are uncomfortable to wear because only the end of a robot link is fixed to the part that needs rehabilitation. Further, they have a limit on the space where they are installed because they can integrally rehabilitate all joints on the basis of a robot having five to seven degrees of freedom.